146 CANADIAN NIGHTS 



pines which the axe-men have felled. Caribou can- 

 not be run down, and the settlers rarely go after 

 them. They must be stalked on the barrens and 

 lakes, or crept up to in the woods, precisely in the 

 same manner as the moose. 



Such is a brief outline of some Canadian sports. 

 Life in the woods need not be devoted entirely to 

 hunting, but can be varied to a great extent by 

 fishing and trapping. The streams and lakes teem 

 with trout, and the finest salmon-fishing in the 

 world is to be found in New Brunswick and on the 

 north shore of the gulf. In Lower Canada there 

 is still a good deal of fur to be found. In New 

 Brunswick and Nova Scotia beavers are almost 

 extinct, and marten, mink, lynx, otter, and other 

 valuable fur-bearing animals are comparatively 

 scarce. It would be hard, I think, for a man to 

 spend a holiday more pleasantly and beneficially 

 than in the Canadian woods. Hunting leads him 

 into beautiful scenery ; his method of life induces 

 a due contemplation of nature, and tends to whole- 

 some thought. He has not much opportunity for 

 improving his mind with literature, but he can 

 read out of the great book of Nature and find " books 

 in the running brooks, sermons in stones, and good 

 in everything." If he has his eyes and ears open. 



